Curator and Department Head of Prints, Drawings and Photographs Nancy Sojka says the exhibit can offer museum-goers an educational experience "on all sorts of levels."

She says Picasso and Matisse continued to challenge themselves with inventive techniques until the end of their careers.

"It's amazing how they continued to discover and work on inventing and pushing along art styles, even through old age," she said.

She says the collection includes work in many mediums from woodcuts, to charcoal, to watercolor to linoleum cuts. "They could do it all," she said.

The AP reports that the display of works by the two artists considered public favorites comes as the museum pitches a tax proposal to Detroit-area voters on the August ballot. The 10-year tax would support museum operations.

The DIA acquired its first Matisse piece, The Window, back in 1922. Matisse’s 1919 drawing The Plumed Hat and Picasso’s 1939 gouache The Bather by the Sea are two other featured works in the display.